Education Sacrificed at the Altar of Political Expediency

In today’s Washington Examiner, Barbara Hollingsworth writes about the injustice being committed to D.C. children by ending the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Hollingsworth’s impassioned words get at the heart of the crisis:

It’s virtually impossible to get rid of federal programs that don’t work, so it’s even more astounding that a successful education program for low-income African American children is being phased-out by Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Without, I might add, a peep of protest from President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, or members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

What happened to ‘the fierce urgency of now’? How in heaven’s name can Congress sit there bailing out failed automakers, irresponsible bankers and Wall Street tycoons while yanking hope away from 1,700 impoverished District schoolchildren?

Former D.C. Council member Kevin Chavous and Juan Williams of Fox News and National Public Radio passionately defended the endangered $13 million D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program at a press conference last week. But they’re practically alone in their opposition to sacrificing children on the altar of political expediency to satisfy the false education gods at the National Education Association.

Over the past five years, OSP has provided District children with a quality private school education for half the amount spent per student in the city’s public schools which, even with Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s reforms, are still the second worst in the nation.

The inability of our republic to rid itself of wasteful, inefficient programs is reason enough for a political revolution (called term limits) – if we can overcome our own dulled senses by voting out the wasteful, inefficient politicians who create them.

Cleansing Washington of its pervasive bloodlust for power and money is a daunting challenge, to be sure. However, the fight will be worth it once the two-legged money pits that currently infest our nation's capital and the pogrom that is the IRS are gone and a flat-tax is put in place – therefore keeping in the reins of spending while efficiently using what does flow in…..like school vouchers put forth by right-minded officials.

This shows what are leaders in Washington and the NAACP are all about. It's all about power and control, by them over those they represent. Doesn't matter who, an auto company, a bank or DC children it's not, not ,not about doing the right thing but about power and control. What can we do to reverse this power grab? Stop listening to what they say or have said and start voting according to what they do or are have done. Talk is not cheap, it is horribly expensive, to the tune of billions of wasted tax dollars. Thus, Massachusetts upcoming senate seat will soon show if America is waking up or is still asleep at the wheel. We will see very soon.

What is wrong with the citizens of the DC area getting their kids to study and do well in school? It isn't the easy way, but it is a way.

Parents that get involved and take ownership of their child's education can and do succeed all the time. It has happened many times in this country, not only thorughout our history but today also…I know the vouchers are one way, but they have the power to do it themselves.

The words "Choice and Competition" come to mind, but the current Congress only wants to use those ugly words when it benefits their agenda. This is no different than the UAW be-moaning the "underhanded" tactic of the Toyota's and Honda's of the world when they came in, built plants state-side and decided to use NON-UNION labor to make the best products they could. They were not hamstrung by ridiculous contracts, grievance lists, and other labor demands that started making the US auto companies uncompetitive. Hmmm. . . there's that word again. Competition. Unions just don't like it. Why ? Because it makes them look bad.

Yes, where is Rev. Jackson when Pres. Obama, Arne Duncan, Jill Biden, and the Teachers Unions team up to destroy the hopes of the minority children and their parents in D.C?

The American prople should be outraged as Mr. Juan Williams is.

A question: Can you build a free society if government, more and more, controls education. Is there a contradiction here? Parents need to be free to choose. Choice would improve quality AND reduce cost.

YOU SIR, are exactly correct with you're question,which I assume you don't really want an answer to.

I can remember what I was doing the day I found out we would not be required to take Civics in high school anymore,but sadly I'd learned enough and old school American History,to be depressed alittle more each day maybe less than a decade after that day.

The goverment being involved in the school system is EXACTLY WHY WE ARE IN THE FIX WE ARE TODAY!

I ask a fellow employee the other day,as we wre having a discussion on health care and global warming,which he calls climate change,if he had ever studied Civics in school,and he looked puzzled for a second, and replied no,but a friend of his had one in high school that they would drive on the weekends sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the time I was out of High School,90% of social studies contradicted what I had previously studied.

That needs to be our first concern,getting the GOVERMENT OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS!!!!

I AGREE –WE NEED GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS.. I ATTENDED A ONE ROOM SCHOOL IN N.W. IOWA AS A CHILD AND IT WAS A GOOD EDUCATION OPERATED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND WE LEARNED THE 3RS– I ULTIMATELY EARNED A B. S. DEGREE. MY OWN CHILDREN WERE EXPERIMENTED ON WITH MODERN MATH. THE TEACHERS ADMONISHED THE CHILDREN TO NOT LET THE PARENTS HELP WITH HOME WORK OR INSTRUCTION. MY CHILDREN COULD NOT DO MATH UNTIL THEY ENTERED COLLEGE. NO DIAGRAMMING OF ENGLISH SENTENCES TO LEARN SENTENCE STRUCTURE, NO CLASSICS TAUGHT–MODERN ROMANCE NOVELS ONLY, NO HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY–ONLY SOCIAL STUDIES WITH GLORIFIED STORIES ABOUT MINORITIES WHO CHALLENGED THE BAD OLD CORRUPT SYSTEM. THEIR GRADE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL WERE WASTED AND IN COLLEGE THEY WERE CAUGHT UP AND ABLE TO DO THE REQUIRED WORK AND BECAME TAXPAYING , WORKING INDIVIDUALS. PUBLIC EDUCATION TODAY STIFLES THE SOUL AND TURNS OUT INFERIOR EDUCATED CHILDREN. TAKE AWAY THEIR CALCULATOR AND THEY ARE LOST..

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